Jun. 1—RED LAKE FALLS, Minn. — Senior pitcher Kylie Klipping had to watch from home in 2025 as a fellow Section 8A team, Badger/Greenbush-Middle River, made a run to the Minnesota Class A championship game.
Klipping and Red Lake Falls made the state tournament in 2024 with a young group, but were knocked out of the section tournament last season.
The Eagles, who still retain much of the core from 2024, entered this year hungry to return to state and make a run of their own. They came a step closer to their goal last week, defeating the Gators in the Section 8A championship to clinch a berth to the state tournament.
“We definitely want revenge,” Klipping said. “We want to get out there and play our hardest, and hopefully make it to that championship at the end.”
Second-seeded Red Lake Falls will take on seventh-seeded New York Mills in the Class A quarterfinals Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Mankato, Minn.
“We came up a little bit short in the section last year,” head coach Ben Hanson said. “They worked really hard, so to be able to get back there is really rewarding. … It’s been the goal of this group of seniors, and our sophomore class behind them was really pushing. That’s what they have been working for.”
Klipping headlines the experienced core as the Eagles’ ace pitcher. She has a 17-1 record in the circle this season with 20 starts under her belt.
Klipping’s ERA currently sits at 0.792, and she has amassed 200 strikeouts on the year.
“She’s our leader,” Hanson said. “She gets everybody going. In the circle she’s always going to be the one that we rely on, and in girls softball, this is the most important position. She’s worked really hard at this, it’s not something that has just come to her from not doing anything. She has spent her winters pitching and spent her summers playing ball, and we look to her to lead us.”
Klipping made the Minnesota Fast Pitch Coaches Association all-state first team last season, and she believes her game has continued to develop this year.
“I definitely have found more speed with my pitching over the years,” Klipping said. “It gradually grows, which makes me a little faster. This year I’ve learned to stride out more and work on that. I practiced three times a week throughout the winter.”
Hanson described the movement on Klipping’s pitches as one of her strengths. Klipping agrees, though she says the movement can be erratic at times.
Luckily, she has a strong relationship with her seasoned catcher, sophomore Layna Schindler. Schindler, who was a starter in eighth grade, can wrangle some of the more unpredictable pitches.
“Sometimes I switch it up, but I don’t even know how I pitch that,” Klipping said. “Sometimes it’ll just curve on its own or it’ll go inside, and (Schindler) just works really well to get to the ball. … We just know where to place people, and we know which ones work and which ones don’t. We’ve always been pretty close — we have a good bond where we can banter back and forth, and it’s kind of like a mean but fun banter. We’ve always had that, and it’s going to be weird not being with her next year.”
Klipping was key in Red Lake Falls’ 2-0 semifinal and 3-2 championship wins over Badger/Greenbush-Middle River.
The Eagles, though, also have offensive upside. In the first two games of the section tournament, they beat Bagley 10-0 and Sacred Heart 12-3.
Klipping, Schindler, senior Miley Cota, senior Shandi Nelson, senior Kayla Schafer, sophomore Ava Seeger, freshman Rowan Kennett, sophomore Grace Knutson and sophomore Halle Seeger are all batting over .300 this season.
“Our offensive lineup is pretty solid,” Klipping said. “We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve struggled, but someone always picks up, whether it’s at the bottom of the order or the top of the order.”
When Red Lake Falls played New York Mills earlier this season, it was a low-scoring affair. The Eagles picked up a 2-0 win on April 30, giving a rare preview of a state tournament opponent.
Klipping has not forgotten the 9-7 state quarterfinal loss to Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley in 2024, though. She’s not taking the first round lightly.
“We definitely know the end goal is to bring home the state title,” Klipping said. “But we just try to play one game at a time. Just keep on going — one game, one game, one game — and get to the end.”